Gaston Balande (1880-1971) "animated Canal Edges, C.1945, Saintes? "charentaise School, La R

SUPERB and large oil/canvas by Gaston Balande, representing a lively canal or riverside near a city, circa 1940/1945, signed lower left. Size without frame 50x65cm. Magnificent post-impressionist composition with a Fauve tendency by Gaston Balande, made during his period of maturity, around 1940, he then mixes brush and knife in a very personal technique, and of course uses a palette of the most worked, very rich in colors , with shades of greens, blues, yellows, whites subtly enhanced by small touches of red, ocher or orange. I have not yet identified the town that you can see in the distance, you can see a rather large bell tower, rather pointed, rather flat roofs, I will opt for a Charente town, perhaps Saintes?? to confirm. So an emblematic work of the painter from Charente, strong and powerful, we can find some paintings quite similar in the catalogs raisonnés on the artist, volume 1 or 2. I only briefly present Gaston Balande, you can find many detailed biographies, on the internet as in the many existing books. Born in Madrid, he spent his childhood in Saujon, with a precocious taste for drawing and the fine arts. The precariousness of his condition forces him to chain short-lived jobs at the sacrifice of his artistic training. This, however, took on a new impetus after the intervention of Alfred Coutureaud, Abbot of Royan and amateur painter, who introduced him, in 1900, to his former teacher, Henri-Joseph Harpignies. The meeting takes place in Paris, on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Admitted to the National School of Decorative Arts, he can finally benefit from a real artistic training, but he can only attend the courses of the evening to continue his day jobs in order to ensure his subsistence. After the war, Gaston Balande returned to Paris and resumed his evening classes at the School of Decorative Arts and frequented the workshops of Jean-Paul Laurens and Rupert Bunny. He then went to Etaples where he rubbed shoulders with many artists. Having taken refuge in La Rochelle in the spring of 1918, the Balande family settled shortly afterwards in the neighboring village of Lauzières where Balande would return for his life. From this period Balande will realize many views of the port of La Rochelle, these periods will be interspersed with many trips abroad, Maghreb, Italy, Switzerland etc .... In La Rochelle, Balande meets, in 1920 , the painter Albert Marquet. He responds to the invitation of Paul Signac who then rents a house in La Rochelle. For their part, Balande and Marquet sympathize quickly and the latter invites his younger brother to follow him for painting sessions on the motif. Balande will keep an indelible imprint of this collaboration. Then will come the consecration of Balande and his success will be growing. He is now one of the best painters of the Charentaise school and is even considered one of the undisputed masters, the one who will influence a large number of artists, such as Suire, Couillaud, Enard, Verger etc... who like him , will set up their trestles between La Rochelle and Royan, passing through the islands of Ré, Oléron or Aix. There are therefore today many books on his work and his paintings are kept in many museums in France and abroad, hence an international rating. This canvas is in perfect original condition, delivered in a pretty modern sculpted frame in the Montparnasse style Guaranteed authentic work